Tag: healthy habits

Creating healthy habits takes time, especially when it comes to healthy eating. I found that it all comes down to being organised. In the early days as a first time mum, I thought that I’d have enough energy to just do normal house duties, prepare lunches and dinners for my husband and I, get back to my exercising, blah, blah, blah. I did make a few lasagna’s, meatballs and other meals that I put in my freezer during my last trimester, ready for when time was going to be short. Oh man, was that an eye opening experience! How much energy gets zapped when you are breastfeeding? And all those sleepless nights or very little sleep? I was so glad that I did have frozen meals ready for consumption! But you can imagine how fast they dwindled away.

So now, I really like preparing meals that are healthy but really fast and easy to make. This does require getting organised, especially in the kitchen, including the pantry, fridge and freezer.

First, clear clutter off bench tops. Have a clean slate to begin with. For me, it’s less chaotic, which helps me move around the kitchen faster and think clearer too.
Pantry needs to be stocked with basic staples to help prepare quick meals. For example: dried quinoa, dried apricots, canned chickpeas and vegetable stock are perfect ingredients to make a Moroccan-style tagine in 30 minutes, easy.
Get ahead whenever possible. If you’re into smoothies each morning, pre-cut and clean vegetables and fruits and place in air tight containers in the fridge; this makes mornings that little bit easier, you just dump the ingredients into the blender.
Another way to get ahead is to double up on recipes. You can fridge or freeze the second batch; all you have to do is reheat or steam during the week for a meal in minutes. Great recipes include: soups, stews, beans or even wholegrains that take longer to cook, like barley.
Make meals simple. Eggs, scrambled with tossed greens, sliced avocado and grated raw carrots is perfectly acceptable, yummy and super fast. You get my drift.

If you want to actually START getting into creating healthy eating habits, just remember that consistency is the key. It’s the little things that you do everyday that matter the most. Focus on positive changes; don’t beat yourself up for all that you believe you do wrong in your diet. Focus on ‘adding’ good foods to your meals over ‘foods to avoid’. As humans, if something gets taken away from us, that’s all we think about. We just don’t do well with voids. If we feel a void, that’s when our motivation drops. So this is why we need to shift our focus onto addition; you will not only start to feel good about the healthy changes you are implementing, you’ll be further inspired to do more positive changes and in turn, less of the negative.

On days when I don’t have a lot of time, for example when it’s my turn to have mother’s group at my place, I think up of meals that are quick to prepare. I am going to share today a ricotta gnocchi recipe and my mushroom gravy sauce. When you are starting to eat a little bit more healthy for you and your family, you’re not going to swap all their favourite meals for healthy, weird tasting ones. What I suggest is to add healthy ingredients to favourite recipes. Add finely grated vegetables into bolognese; mix in wholegrain pasta into white pasta; add some quinoa into white rice – they cook the same time. Doing this over a few weeks or months will prepare tastebuds and create a new liking for your new, upgraded family recipes, without any fuss.

So in this case, I’ve opted for a ricotta gnocchi over potato gnocchi a). I prefer ricotta gnocchi over potato gnocchi; b). it’s quicker to make – without having to boil or bake some potatoes in advance; c). I don’t really like potatoes – I’ve really got to be in the mood for them. If you can get your hands onto organic ricotta (or organic dairy in general), it’s always a bonus. You can even make organic ricotta if you buy some organic milk, that’s a recipe for another time.

I don’t do well on wheat at all, but I have found that I can have a few gluten containing grains a few times a week. I used spelt flour instead – I’m yet to experiment with almond meal, but I’m afraid it won’t have the same consistency as smooth, ricotta gnocchi. Anyway I hope you will try this, please enjoy.

Ricotta Gnocchiperfectly serves 4

Ingredients

500g organic ricotta

150g organic white spelt flour

1 egg, lightly beaten

½ teaspoon Himalayan pink salt

a pinch or 2 freshly ground black pepper

60g organic grated parmesan* – this is optional, but it does just add a beautiful flavour

Method

Place all ingredients into the TM bowl and knead dough until it comes together. Ensure you don’t over work the dough otherwise it will be too dense. If the dough is too sticky, add a little more flour.

Turn out onto a non-stick silicon mat and divide dough into 4.

Take 1 portion and roll it into a 1.5cm diameter log and using a pastry knife or spatula, cut into 2.5cm pieces. Lightly sprinkle with flour to prevent from sticking. Repeat this step with remaining portions. At this stage you can freeze gnocchi or cook straight away.

Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Gently place gnocchi into boiling water. When gnocchi is cooked, they float to the top, count to five and take them out with a slotted spoon.

At this stage you can add what ever sauce, pesto, roasted veggies – like pumpkin etc. or place into a frying pan with a little olive oil. I usually reheat the gnocchi the next day on a fry pan, get a little colour on them; that is, if there are any left overs!